Genealogy Research

[piratesmate]

OK Question:

Where is everyone??

Wait that is not my question. I used ancestry to do a quick search on my moms maiden name. Nothing too much has ever come up but this time an entire tree showed up from one tree. It ended with my moms dad and went back to the mid 1700s I think.

I sent a note to the contact person but have not recevied, nor do I really expect, a response.

So - how do you verify research like this that someone else has done but has given no references for?? I don't feel comfortable just adding to my tree without verifying it first.

Piratesmate - did you get the information I sent??

First, I'm soooooooooo sorry that I didn't send you an email saying that I'd gotten the info & thanking you!! I remember at least STARTING to do it, but I was having serious browser issues for the past 2 weeks. Maybe that got lost in one of the many browser crashes.

Anyway, I got it & really appreciate you doing it for me! Now that we've gotten our tax refund I've been trying to convince DH that $300 isn't all that bad. Of course I still think it is! It's torture not having it!

As far as verifying research...when I first started I would add what other people found, but soon stopped. Sometimes, even when people would respond & say that they had sources but just hadn't posted them I would later find out that the info was way off. In one instance I later found a family Bible at my parents' house that had a handwritten page with birth/death dates on it. It was written by my gg aunt who had been widowed at an early age without children. She was recording the info about her siblings. Much later yet I found various photos that were labeled with the same dates on them. I tend to believe her info over some unknown sources.

Have you tried posting questions about sources for those people on one of the surname boards? I don't mean questioning the sources of the person - just asking if someone has any sources for the info. For many of my lines I find no one else researching them...at least when I read back through old posts. But once I post a question, someone will occasionally crawl out of the woodwork & say that they, too, are looking for the same people. I've actually made a number of connections that way. I usually use Rootsweb or GenWeb boards. But there are some county boards that are even better...they're just full of people I can't connect to. LOL

 

[tinkryansmom]

But once I post a question, someone will occasionally crawl out of the LOL

LOL

I will try this.

My work is so sporadic but I am trying to organize things.

Please feel free to let me know about the names I gave you. I kept your original PM and will run the names again. Your info was pretty specific just the names I found did not seem to jive with you info??

OK baby is waking up - time for lunch!!

 

[piratesmate]

As it turned out, I had saved the 1910 census for Harry & Sadie. I wish I could tell you how many times I looked for that! For some reason I'd put it under Sadie's maiden name instead of her married name. No wonder it didn't come up when I searched!

Harry & Sadie Schultz were in Easton in 1910 at the same address Harry used on their marriage certificate so I know they were the right ones. What's confusing me is that there were 3 children in the 1910 census. Roy 5, Ellsworth 3 & Mary 7/12. According to my FIL, his father was an only child. I thought that perhaps the other 2 died very young & that's why he was considered an "only" - but I found an Ellsworth Schultz who died in 1969. They have his DOB as 1909 instead of 1907, but I know for a fact that my grandfather's is wrong in the SSDI also - so it's not unheard of.

I remember looking before for a Sadie Schultz in the 1920 census in Pottsville Schuylkill county, which is where they were supposed to be living. Roy had lied about his age & joined the navy (found him on a naval base in VA). But the only Sadie I found in Pottsville was listed as single, although she was the right age. Harry didn't die until 1929 - at least I think! I have to wait until the end of the month until I can check his obit at the library. I wish I could find Harry & the other 2 kids in 1920...that might tell me something more.

 

[abish19]

Hello everybody-

I've just discovered the Dis'ers who love genealogy! So glad you're here.

I've been catching up on the thread...I used to work in the genealogy dept. of a local library, which had all of the local county newspaper on microfilm since it started in the 1800s. As library employees, we were often contacted for obituary information. We always looked it up for free, and charged a minimal fee for copying and sending the information to inquirers.

You can always call the library of the town your ancestor/relative is from and ask. Just costs the dime (or whatever it is now!) for the phone call, even if they can't or won't provide that service.

I love family history and have thought about subscribing to Ancestry, but was always put off by the cost. I've just recently started doing descendancy research, which I think is much more difficult but very exciting, esp. when you find a living distant cousin!

Thanks for this great thread...

 

[piratesmate]

<snip>
I remember looking before for a Sadie Schultz in the 1920 census in Pottsville Schuylkill county, which is where they were supposed to be living. Roy had lied about his age & joined the navy (found him on a naval base in VA). But the only Sadie I found in Pottsville was listed as single, although she was the right age. Harry didn't die until 1929 - at least I think! I have to wait until the end of the month until I can check his obit at the library. I wish I could find Harry & the other 2 kids in 1920...that might tell me something more.

Update: We didn't make it to that library because DD wasn't able to go take her tests. We're hoping that she'll be able to get there on Monday for the Science portion - but it's more likely that we won't. She's still pretty bad.

On another note...I noticed in the Ancestry.com newsletter this morning that they added some new military records. I've long had questions about the military service of my great-grandfather. He gave a newspaper interview that claimed some things that just didn't fit...some of it better matched that of his younger brother's service.

Anyway, I wondered if someone would look him up in that new database for me.
DB: U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914
Charles E Boyer
born September 1859 in Maryland (occasionally listed as 1857)
served 1882 to 1887 in the 8th Cavalry (I think)
died Jan 1939

Having no clue what is actually in those records, these details were given in the newspaper article & are what we are trying to prove or disprove:

"The elder son, tired of the cities, left home at 21, worked for a period as an express employe in PA & special peace officer, then felt the call of the west & came to OK, then Indian territory.
For some time he worked as a mule skinner, and then joined the US Army. Serving in that capacity for five years he was detailed throughout TX, OK, Mexico, NM & AZ.
The capture of Geronimo, the Cheyenne-Arapahoe battle in northern OK, and the massacre of the Ogalla Sioux Indians in ND, were the three principal battles in which Boyer participated.
Three years were spent in Cuba, as a soldier of the US Army in the Spanish American war."

My problem is that the years don't match for some of this and he was in PA during the Spanish-American war, but his brother was a Marine & served in the SAW. There are other inconsistencies as well.

So would someone be able to at least check to see if there are enlistment & discharge dates for him in that new database? Please?

 

[Queenie]

I'm in contact with a distant cousin!!! Found each other through a UK based genealogy site, he has a photo of distant grandparents who I've never seen, can't wait for him to send it.

 

[tinkryansmom]

Piratesmate

I will attempt to get this info for you tonight. Will PM you what I find!!

 

[tinkryansmom]

I'm in contact with a distant cousin!!! Found each other through a UK based genealogy site, he has a photo of distant grandparents who I've never seen, can't wait for him to send it.

 

[Lisa]

I'm in contact with a distant cousin!!! Found each other through a UK based genealogy site, he has a photo of distant grandparents who I've never seen, can't wait for him to send it.

That is terrific!

I recently had a woman contact me whose grandfather was my gggrandmother's nephew. She was his sponsor when he came to America in the early 1900s. Now I know where in GER she came from.

 

[piratesmate]

That's awesome Queenie & Lisa! I love it when you find a long lost cousin - esp. when they have some info that you don't!

I just had someone respond to a question I'd asked in 2002! Her grandfather was DH's grandfather's younger brother. She'd asked questions of her grandparents when she was little & gotten answers (unlike DH.) Using her info, we've been able to jog some of MIL's memories & get more info! When we started asking about 5 yrs ago, she could remember very little. Last weekend, she suddenly remembered that she had addresses for some of those relatives with whom she'd lost contact. LOL

Good luck with your searching everyone!

 

[tinkryansmom]

Piratesmate:

Hi! I have some info for you from the military records but I cannot find your email - please PM me again!

Thanks

 

[piratesmate]

Piratesmate:

Hi! I have some info for you from the military records but I cannot find your email - please PM me again!

Thanks

Oh cool! Thanks!! I'll send you a PM now. (We were out for dinner tonight...DD's 17th! Where did the time go?!?!?

 

[Lisa]

I recently found out that a paternal gggrandfather is buried at the same cemetary as three other sets of paternal ggrandparents. So I called the cemetery (it's a very large one). The woman confirmed that yes gggrandfather is there as well as his DIL, my ggrandmother, and 21 other relatives. Whoa! She then told me I could request a burial search which will give me the names of all interred there and their dates of death. I have an idea of some of the people, gggrandparents, with their daughters and respective spouses, perhaps children. The stone only has three family surnames, no dates. What I really am trying to determine is if by chance my ggrandmother's mother somehow was buried there, because she isn't with her husband at the same cemetery.

So a helpful tip when searching, some cemeteries will do burial searches. See if it is available to you when are a distance away from the cemetery or if there are no stones, or stones have been buried under grass after a long period of time, or in our case just family names. If I get my gggrandmother's date of death, I can request her death certificate, and hopefully my distant cousin from a slightly different branch and I will find out what gggrandmother's mother's maiden name was.

 

[Lisa]

Another helpful tip. If you have any relatives from FL, I highly recommend writing to the state for any certificates you can get. The price is very reasonable ($5) and they are quick, came in three weeks. I wrote for copies of relatives death certificates. Rec'd grandparents only to have them, but my great grandfather's was the most revealing - now have his parents names including mother's maiden name. I have a new branch to explore.

 

[piratesmate]

I got an email last night stating that their Military Collection is free from now until the 31st of May! So if you have things to look up, but don't have a subscription, now is the time to do it.

I almost missed it because for some reason GMail put it into the Spam folder. That's never happened before.

They've had free weekends around various holidays before, but usually it's their full collections & only for a few days. This actually gives you a bit more time, although it has opened up new info for me that I can't cross-check in the census. I'm going to have to break down & pay for that subscription I think. DH will "murdahlize" me! (Anyone else old enough to remember that? I can't remember who use to say it & it's driving me crazy. LOL)

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Deb you just made my day!! I'll be looking at that this afternoon and push back cleaning my DS's room til later... need this info a bit more!!!!

Next time you get one of those free weekend emails let me know.. I just can't justify the cost right now...

 

[piratesmate]

Deb you just made my day!! I'll be looking at that this afternoon and push back cleaning my DS's room til later... need this info a bit more!!!!

Next time you get one of those free weekend emails let me know.. I just can't justify the cost right now...

They used to have these free weekends much more often, but this is the first I've heard of since my subscription ran out in January. If you haven't had a subscription before, you might be able to get the reduced rate like I did last year. I was checking for "sales" about 2 months ago & saw a rate of about $150 for first-time subscribers only. That's what I'd paid, but I'm not sure if that's for the World (what I had) or the US collections.

I'll be sure to let you know if I hear of any more! And I'm not cleaning or even unpacking my scrap stuff until I've spent a few hours doing research.

 

[hopemax]

Awesome, thanks! I don't have a lot of people to look up, since there were so many immigrants arriving at the turn of the century, but I do have some people from WWII, WWI, and one branch of the family who served in the Civil War.

 

[piratesmate]

Definitely check because nearly every male in the US had to "register" for the draft for both WWI & WWII. It didn't mean they actually served, just registered. DH's gradfather arrived in 1903 & there's a draft reg. card for him for WWII. You'd be surprised at who is included...at least I was. Men who were far too old to serve - at least the way we usually think of it - are listed. For WWI, I think the years were something like 1872 to 1900.

 

[hopemax]

I've checked in the past at the draft cards. Found my Great-Grandfather's brother (who my Grandma didn't even know existed!), but not him. I even paged through all the records for a location looking for misspellings or something. But I can't page through the records for all 5 boroughs of NYC in case he registered somewhere else. The WWII draft cards only have a handful of states, and doesn't include Illinois or Wisconsin and NY is incomplete, which is what I need.

So I wait until more records are online. Navy enlistment records would be nice too, my Grandfather's side was Navy in WWII.